Link Centre Dictionary

needs

UK/niːdz/ US/nidz/ very common

adverb

1.

in such a manner as could not be otherwise

  • “it is necessarily so”
  • “we must needs by objective”

Origin

From Middle English nedes (“of necessity, necessarily; inevitably, unavoidably”) [and other forms], from Old English nēdes, nīedes (“of necessity; not willingly”), from nīed + -es (suffix forming adverbs from nouns). The English word is equivalent to need + -'s (possessive marker) and hence to need + -s (suffix forming adverbs).

Related words

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.